Overcoming Negative Thought Patterns to Find Joy

克服消极思维以寻找快乐

词汇：考研 | 句法：五级 | 文本：六级

刘立军 供稿

Occasionally, we catch a fleeting glimpse of true happiness. It might be on a late summer night, after recovering from an illness, or deeply moved by a book or a piece of music, taking a solitary walk through the city or the countryside.

偶尔，我们会瞥见真正的幸福转瞬即逝。可能是在夏夜的深夜，大病初愈之后，或者深深地被一本书或一段音乐所感动时，又或是在城市的街头或乡村独自漫步之际。

Suddenly, a profound thought envelops us: What if we didn’t have to be sad and anxious all the time? What if we could better appreciate the beauty and potential that surrounds us? What if we noticed the trees and the interesting faces of strangers? What if we allowed ourselves to connect more deeply with those around us? What if we let go of our usual reserve, suspicion, and fear? What if we surrendered to loving and being loved? We sense a possibility of joy on a much grander scale than we usually entertain.

突然，一个深刻的想法包围着我们：如果我们不必一直感到悲伤和焦虑会怎样？如果我们能更好地欣赏我们周围的美好和潜力会怎样？如果我们注意到树木和陌生人的有趣面孔会怎样？如果我们允许自己与周围的人建立更深层次的联系会怎样？如果我们放下我们一贯的拘谨、猜忌和恐惧会怎样？如果我们屈服于爱和被爱会怎样？我们能感觉到一种远超寻常的、更宏大的喜悦可能。

The standard, somewhat exasperated arguments against such moods go like this: We need to sober up. We’re not shamans or visionaries; there are fixed, grand, and important reasons why life is fundamentally awful. We have to earn a living. Our partners are often irritable. People are mean. There’s a house to look after. But more existentially, this is a journey of suffering. We didn’t get to where we are today by focusing on the upsides.

对这种情绪的标准的、略带恼怒的反驳是这样的：我们需要清醒。我们不是巫师或先知；生活从根本上说就是糟糕的，这背后有固定、宏大和重要的原因。我们必须谋生。我们的伴侣经常易怒。人们很刻薄。还有一栋房子要照看。但从更存在主义的角度来说，这是一场苦难之旅。我们今天之所以到达这里，并不是因为我们专注于积极的一面。

It all sounds sensible enough, and surely there is logic on certain days. But what if the ‘reality’ we speak of doesn’t demand anything as grim as we suppose? What if there are no genuine necessities that preclude higher levels of happiness; what if it’s primarily our own distorted psychology that gets in the way of a richer life?

这一切听起来颇有道理，当然在某些日子里确实有逻辑。但是，如果我们所说的“现实”并不像我们假设的那样阴郁会怎样？如果我们没有什么真正的必然因素，会阻碍我们获得更高层次的幸福；如果我们自己的扭曲心理才是阻碍我们过上更丰富生活的主要障碍会怎样？

Many of us did not grow up in an atmosphere where joy was rewarded or deemed possible for long. Our childish appetite for giggling soon faded. Our parents may have been extremely worried, or angry, or sad, and we quickly got the message that we needed to keep our heads down and prepare ourselves for long winters of emotional deprivation. We became good students of a downbeat mindset; we attached ourselves to a philosophy of sadness. We learned to expect little. Not for us states of runaway ecstasy, nor possibilities of love, nor transports of delight at being on the planet.

我们中的许多人，并没有在一个奖励快乐、或认为快乐能持续很长时间的环境中长大。儿时对欢笑的渴望很快就消失了。我们的父母可能非常担心、愤怒或悲伤，我们很快得到这样的信息：我们得低头，为情感匮乏的漫长寒冬做好准备。我们成为了悲观心态的优秀学生；我们依附于悲伤的哲学。我们学会了不抱过多期待。那些狂喜的状态，被爱的可能，因活在这个星球上而产生的喜悦，似乎都与我们无关。

Without necessarily noticing what happened and why, we developed into people who remain loyal to what was implicitly demanded of them in their early years; we are still in a mentality we were quietly coached for and had no alternative to aged seven or fourteen.

不一定注意到发生了什么和为什么，但我们成长为这样的人：始终忠于早年那些潜移默化的要求；我们仍然处于一种我们七岁或十四岁时被悄悄指导的思维模式中，那时我们别无选择。

But what if there were, in our adulthood, at this stage in our lives, no ongoing reasons to keep holding onto sadness and worry with our customary energy? What if we could dare to become fundamentally different, more open to joy and able to bear hope?

但是，如果我们成年后，在我们生活的这个阶段，没有持续的理由继续以我们习惯的能量保持悲伤和担忧呢？如果我们敢于从根本上变得不同，更乐于接纳喜悦，并能够抱有希望会怎样？

We might go into friendships expecting that they could become sources of satisfaction; we might pick partners who didn’t reinforce our sense of isolation; we might set up our interactions with others so that they could succeed.

我们可能会进入友谊，期待它们成为满足感的来源；我们可能会选择那些不会加强我们孤立感的伴侣；我们可能会安排好与他人的互动，以便它们能够成功。

We might — in time — take on board one of the most shocking of all thoughts: what if we are not here to suffer? What if we could relocate our misery to where it belongs, a past we weren’t able to choose, and aimed for something different going forward? What if we allowed ourselves to become more regular visitors to those still very unknown and understandably terrifying uplands of joy? We won’t change this around in a day — or in a little film. But we might derive benefit from every spur we can get.

假以时日，我们可能会接受所有想法中最令人震惊的一个：如果我们不是来这里受苦的会怎样？如果我们能够将我们的痛苦重新安置到它该在的地方，一个我们未曾选择的过去，并向前看追求不同的东西会怎样？如果我们允许自己成为那些仍然未知且会令人恐惧的快乐高地的更频繁的访客会怎样？我们不会在一夜之间——或在一部短片中——改变这一切。但我们可能会从我们能得到的每一个刺激中有所收获。

【词汇】

1. fleeting adj. 短暂的，瞬息的

2. exasperate v. 使恼怒，激怒

3. shaman n. 萨满，巫师

4. irritable adj. 易怒的，急躁的

5. existential adj. 存在的，有关存在的

6. downbeat adj. 沮丧的，悲观的

7. upland n. 高地，山区

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